Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon Cream Pies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Mix cornstarch with a little cold water, then stir the mixture into boiling water.
Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.
Pour the boiling mixture over the creamed butter and sugar.
When the mixture is cool, add the lemon juice, lemon rind, and beaten egg yolks.
Pour the filling into the pie crust.
Top and bake
Bake until set.
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add sugar and mix gently.
Spread the egg white mixture over the pie.
Brown in the oven at 350°F (175°C).
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the filling as it heats with the liquid, giving it a firm, sliceable set.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the filling, adding richness and a smooth, custard-like body.
- Lemon juice
- Adds the sharp acidity that gives the pie its characteristic tang.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that forms the light meringue topping, which browns in the oven.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the filling and dissolves easily into the creamed butter.
The step that matters
Add the egg yolks only after the mixture has cooled. Adding hot filling to beaten egg yolks can scramble them, leaving lumps. Cooling the mixture first lets the yolks thicken smoothly without curdling.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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